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Webinar Archives

What do you need your conservation planning software to do? Listening session for the modernization of NatureServe Vista with Patrick Crist of NatureServe.

NatureServe Vista is currently an ArcGIS extension that supports general scenario-based assessment at multiple scales, ecological assessments, mitigation planning, and area planning (for multiple objectives) and ongoing adaptive management in any environment (marine, terrestrial, freshwater). NatureServe, founder and co-coordinator of the EBM Tools Network, is embarking on a $500K full modernization of this tool over the next 15 months. The goal of this 90-minute listening session is to get input from the coastal-marine practitioner community to make sure coastal-marine use interests are represented in tool assessment, planning, and mitigation functionality. This session will present plans for the new version of the tool and get participant feedback. To learn more about NatureServe Vista generally, visit natureserve.org/vista. (The 8-min video may be particularly useful.)

Webinar hosted by the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).

This webinar was presented by Ingrid Giskes (Chair of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative Steering Group, and Head of Campaign for Sea Change, World Animal Protection), David Parker (Blue Ventures, and Vice-Chair of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative), and Joan Drinkwin (Associate Partner, Natural Resource Consultants).

Each year, worldwide, millions of animals living in our oceans are mutilated and killed by abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear – ‘ghost gear’. These animals suffer severe acute or chronic welfare impacts; ranging from drowning in minutes to suffering from debilitating wounds for months or years before finally dying.

In 2014, World Animal Protection launched its Sea Change campaign with the Fishing’s Phantom Menace report, highlighting that cross-sectoral global collaboration was the only way to combat ghost gear. In 2015, World Animal Protection launched the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), bringing together a critical group of stakeholders and experts on this topic. The GGGI addresses sea-based sources of marine debris, specifically abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear, and contributes to the delivery of the first target (14.1) under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, calling for a significant reduction in marine debris of all kinds by 2025.

Now, as we head into 2018, join us to hear about how the GGGI’s three working groups – Building Evidence, Best Practice, and Solutions – have played a key role in formulating a global approach and strategy to tackling this deadly issue, and working towards ghost gear-free seas.

Webinar cosponsored by MarineDebris.Info and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by NatureServe and OCTO).

This webinar was presented by Jean-Luc Solandt of the Marine Conservation Society and Tom Mullier of Marine Mapping Ltd

Political parties in England and Scotland are working together to develop a network of new MPAs (known as marine conservation zones or MCZs in England). The UK government is designating a final tranche of MCZs by the end of 2018. UK MCZs are different from other MPAs worldwide, however, because management measures for MCZs aren’t explicit for entire sites (or zones) but are instead eventually implemented for individual species and habitat features within sites. This leads to a complex system where regulators assemble evidence of cause and damage (or the potential for damage) to features in sites and manage accordingly. With this system, elements such as connectivity, representation, and replication can be assessed relatively easily, but it is difficult to assess level of protection. In addition to working on Brexit, the UK government – and local regulators (Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities) – have been working to implement fisheries management measures in English sites in recent years. The NGO Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is keen for the public, sea users, and journalists to become aware of where proactive regulation is happening, and for which habitats. To this end, MCS has worked with Marine Mapping Ltd to develop a tool MPA Reality Check (map.mpa-reality-check.org) to show were active fisheries management is taking place in these English MPAs. This webinar will describe the tool, political reasons for implementation of controls, and where (e.g., offshore sites) there has been limited progress due to EU processes.

Webinar hosted by the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe)

This webinar was presented by Nick Wehner, OCTO’s Director of Open Initiatives and the Project Director for MarXiv.

RELX Group, the holding company that owns Elsevier, the world's largest publisher, brought in profits that exceeded US $1.2 billion in 2017 alone. With a profit margin of 37%, they make more profit per-dollar than Google and Apple combined! So what can you as an author do to stop feeding this profit-hungry beast?

Elsevier and other for-profit publishers allow you to make your research available for free to the world via Green Open Access (Green OA). Papers available for free this way are cited 30% more on average. If they're licensed openly, they can also be text-mined and translated for free, too -- all without paying costly OA fees to the publisher!

Get your research published where you want (even behind a pay-wall) by making it freely-available via Green OA with MarXiv: the free research repository for the ocean and marine climate sciences. Not only can you make your research Green OA for free, but you can also share your data and other research outputs for free. Give your group’s reports a free DOI, too, and ensure they’re indexed in academic search engines like Google Scholar.

This webinar was presented by Peter Hawthorne of the University of Minnesota and the Natural Capital Project

Restoration Opportunities Optimization Tool (ROOT) is a software tool that helps decision makers evaluate trade-offs among different ecosystem services and visualize where investments in restoration could be made to optimize benefits for multiple landscape goals. It uses information about the potential impacts of restoration or management activities together with spatial prioritization or serviceshed maps to identify key areas for ecosystem service provision. It then uses multi-objective analysis to allow users to consider how to best manage tradeoffs between different project goals. ROOT has been applied in Costa Rica, Myanmar, Malawi, Colombia, and Brazil’s Espirito Santo State to help these countries optimize the placement of restoration activities for ecosystem services in national and subnational conservation, development, and agricultural objectives in support of increased ecological function to benefit people and livelihoods. It has not yet been applied in a coastal context but is applicable to coastal areas as well. The tool is free for download and use at naturalcapitalproject.org.

This webinar was presented by Jon Day of the ARC Centre for Coral Reef Studies

The term ‘Management Effectiveness Evaluation’ (or MEE) is well recognized as an important part of adaptive management for any protected area. Differing assessment methodologies have emerged around the world, many of them building upon the Framework agreed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) for assessing management effectiveness. In this talk, Jon will discuss some of the lessons learned when applying the IUCN/WCPA framework to assess MEE in a large and complex marine protected area (MPA) like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Jon will compare and contrast this with a similar, but simpler, use of the same IUCN framework that he developed, working in conjunction with GIZ India, for Indian MPAs.

Webinar co-sponsored by the NOAA National MPA Center, MPA News, and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).

This webinar was presented by Lisamarie Carrubba of NOAA and Vicki Wedell acting Chief for Policy and Planning for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The Partnerships for Transboundary Protection (PTP) Program was established by NOAA's Office of Protected Resources and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries to better connect conservation efforts directed toward marine species and their habitats. Through collaborative conservation that aligns sanctuary management plans, species' recovery plans, and habitat protection, the PTP Program is working to improve internal coordination and management of threatened and endangered species and their habitats, as well as other NOAA resources such as key fishery species in sanctuaries. The PTP Program is also working on expanding collaboration with other marine protected areas and external partners in order to further support conservation and recovery of species such as whales, corals, and Nassau grouper.

Webinar co-sponsored by the NOAA National MPA Center, MPA News, and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).

This webinar was presented by Fernando Secaira of The Nature Conservancy

Nature, including coral reefs, mangroves, wetlands, sand dunes, and healthy beaches, provides the first lines of defense to slow waves, reduce flooding, and protect coastal people and property. Insuring habitats like reefs and beaches can help protect the health and protective services of these ecosystems and ensure they are restored after extreme storms hit. Fernando Secaira of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) will discuss a pilot project underway in Mexico in partnership with Swiss Re and the Mexican state of Quintana Roo governments to insure coastal natural ecosystems that support tourism and offer an associated source of funding for ongoing reef protection and repair.

Webinar co-sponsored by the Reef Resilience Network and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).

Scientists have been working to make fisheries environmentally sustainable for decades. But startling exposés of human rights violations (particularly the widespread use of slave labor) in the seafood industry in the past few years have highlighted the need for governments, businesses, and nonprofits to start working together to address human rights and social issues in the sector – including access to resources and markets, food security, and livelihood security. Conservation International recently spearheaded a working group of environmental NGOs, social responsibility NGOs, academics, and business leaders to develop a framework for social responsibility and offer concrete recommendations to businesses, governments, and NGOs for ensuring that social responsibility is enforced throughout the seafood supply chain. These recommendations will help businesses reduce reputational risks in their seafood supply chains. They will help governments better regulate marine resources and their national seafood industries. And they will also help nonprofits and donor organizations determine the best ways to direct their resources to address critical social issues. Learn more at stories.conservation.org/a-sea-change-for-seafood.

Webinar hosted by the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).

UN Environment launched #CleanSeas in February 2017 to engage governments, the general public, civil society and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic litter. This campaign is addressing the root cause of marine litter by targeting the production and consumption of non-recoverable and single-use plastic. It is also giving a platform to hundreds of local organizations doing important work on marine litter to highlight their efforts. The campaign contributes to the goals of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, a voluntary open-ended partnership for international agencies, governments, businesses, academia, local authorities and non-governmental organizations hosted by UN Environment. Learn more about #CleanSeas at http://cleanseas.org.

Webinar co-sponsored by the NOAA National MPA Center, MarineDebris.info, MPA News, and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).